Year 4 Reading List We are often asked to recommend books that are popular with children and have a good literary content. Reading a range of modern and classic literature will also help your child to develop their vocabulary whilst enjoying their reading.

Research has found that children benefit from reading for pleasure in many ways including: ‘Children who read for pleasure are likely to do significantly better at school than their peers, making greater progress in mathematics, development of vocabulary and spelling.’ (Sullivan & Brown, Social inequalities in cognitive scores at age 16: The role of reading, 2013)

‘The lack of vocabulary knowledge is primarily caused by lack of opportunity not a lack of natural ability’ (Chall et al)

‘Poor vocabulary is the prime cause of academic failure’ (Clegg et al)

Not only will it help their education and communication skills, but most importantly, they will really enjoy reading as long as they have a good book to suit their tastes.

We have therefore put together some suggestions for each year group in the form of a recommended reading list. We would also welcome your views and appreciate your suggestions about other books that could be added to the list.

Please remember that parents / carers have final responsibility for assessing the suitability of books that the children choose to read at home. If you want to find out more about a book, reading reviews and ratings on websites like www.lovereading4kids.co.uk and Amazon UK can often help.

If you would like any further information about reading, please ask your child’s classteacher and we will be happy to help.

Author Book Title Allan Ahlberg The Better Brown Stories Joan Aiken A Handful of Gold The Winter Sleepwalker Philip Ardagh The Eddie Dickens Trilogy Phyllis Arkle Magic at Nina Bawden Granny the Pag The Finding Floella Benjamin Coming to England Quentin Blake The Green Ship Enid Blyton St Claires Island of Adventure Series Theresa Breslin Kezzie Betsy Byars The Eighteenth Emergency Babette Cole Drop Dead Two of Everything Bruce Coville The Magic Shop Series Sharon Creech Ruby Holler Helen Cresswell Lizzie Dripping The Piemakers Gillian Cross Rent-A-Genius

1 Cleobury Mortimer Primary School Year 4 Reading List

The Demon Headmaster The Roman Beanfeast Roald Dahl James and the Giant Peach Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Lucy Daniels Animal Ark Series Colin Dann The Farthing Wood Series Andrew Davies Conrad’s War Cecil Day Lewis The Otterbury Incident Berlie Doherty Berlie, Willa and Old Miss Anna The Golden Bird Anne Fine The Angel of Nitshill Road Charm School Jennifer’s Diary The Granny Project Louise Fitzhugh Harriet the Spy Michael Foreman War Game Leon Garfield The Apprentices Adele Geras The Fabulous Fantova Files Little Swan Ballet Books Rumer Godden The Diddakoi The Doll’s House Willis Hall The Last Vampire The Vampire Series Libby Hathorn Way Home Anthony Horowitz Groosham Grange Shirley Hughes Chips and Jessie Enchantment in the Garden Ted Hughes Tales of the Early World The Dream Fighter and Other Creation Tales Greg James Kid Normal Julia Jarman The Time-Travelling Cat Pete Johnson How to Train Your Parents Terry Jones Fairy Tales The Saga of Eric the Viking Erich Kastner Emil and the Detectives Dick King-Smith Chewing the Cud The Crowstarver The Hodgeheg Dodo are Forever Dragon Boy Saddlebottom The Invisible Dog The Merrythought The Swoose The Toby Man Tessa Krailing Miranda and Friends Only Miranda Caroline Lawrence The Thieves of Ostia Sam Llewellyn Pig in the Middle Hugh Lofting Doctor Dolittle 2 Cleobury Mortimer Primary School Year 4 Reading List

Jonathan Long The Dog that Dug Margaret Mahy The Chewing Gum Rescue The Five Sisters The Great Piratical Rumbustification Jan Mark The Dead Letter Box Geraldine McCaughrean The Wooden Horse Roger McGough The Magic Fountain Ursula Moray Williams Gubbolino The Witch’s Cat Michael Morpurgo The Fox and The Ghost King Beverley Naidoo No Turning Back Jenny Nimmo Seth and the Strangers David O’Connell The Chocolate Factory Ghost Philippa Pearce Mrs Cockle’s Cat Lynne Reid Banks Angela and Diabola Indian in the Cupboard George Selden A Cricket in Times Square Posy Simmonds Fred Francesca Simon Horrid Henry Johanna Spyri Heidi R.L. Stine Goosebumps Series Jeremy Strong Fatbag the Demon Vacuum Cleaner There’s a Viking in My Bed Robert Swindells Ice Palace Dylan Thomas A Child’s Christmas in Wales Colin Thompson How to Live Forever The Paperbag Prince P.L. Travers Mary Poppins Series Anne Turnbull Pigeon Summer Kaye Umansky Pongwiffy Ellen Weiss The Animal Rescue Squad Robert Wetsall The Creature in the Dark Marcia Williams Mr William Shakespeare’s Plays Margery Williams The Velveteen Rabbit Take A Good Look Video Rose

3 Cleobury Mortimer Primary School Year 4 Reading List